If glam is dead, Wicked hasn’t gotten the memo. Decked out with their matching long blonde hair and a wardrobe which rivals that of the Sweet, these four rock n’ rollers are currently tearing up the country as the opener for a full metal lineup consisting of Raven, Vicious Rumors, and Lutharo. With such heavy tour mates and the strict dividing lines that come with metal subgenres and scenes, one might worry about Wicked’s place on such a bill. If this trek has proven anything thus far, it’s that the naysayers should save their worries for more worthy causes. This is a band who’s dead set on converting the masses, one hard rocking hook at a time. We had the chance to sit down with the band as they travelled en route to Houston, who right after a weekend of Hell’s Heroes was about to be walloped again.
Greetings guys and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Danny Döll: Awesome! This is Danny from Wicked!
Chad Michael: This is Chad Michael!
Gunnar Coston: Gunnar!
Scotty V.: I’m Scotty V.
For those who don’t know, what instruments do you guys play?
DD: I’m on bass guitar.
CM: I’m lead singer and rhythm guitarist.
GC: I play drums.
SV: Lead guitar.
Awesome! How would you describe Wicked’s music to someone who’s never heard it before?
DD: We always say high energy rock n’ roll. It’s a mix of a whole bunch of different influences that all comes together to be Wicked. Whether it’s hard rock from the ’70s to power pop of the ’90s, it’s just a big blend of music that’s a good time.
Could you gives us some background on how the band first got together?
CM: It started with my brother Danny and I about 10 years ago or something like that. We had been envisioning what wasn’t existing within the music field. Rock n’ roll with entertainment factor, all that kind of stuff. Then, Scotty V. came along. We met him on some random website.
DD: What was that called, Scott?
SV: It was called Glam Nation. It was like Myspace for rock n’ rollers *laughs*.
DD: Gunnar was the last puzzle piece. We let him audition because he had blonde hair when he showed up. We said, “Yo, you’re pretty good. You’re an OK drummer. You could join the band.”
GC: Here I am *laughs*!
Going around, which bands and artists helped shape you as musicians? Was there any one in particular who inspired you to pursue music?
DD: The first and foremost, it all started with AC/DC. When I saw Angus Young doing his thing and I was just a kid, I couldn’t get enough of the albums, the vinyl, the books, the music videos back when they used to have them on DVDs and stuff like that. Remember that? I just wanted to be him so bad. All that occult, devil imagery and everything, it was just so freaking cool. I’ll leave you with this too. As I grew up, the European rock and metal scene really became a big thing. A band called The Hellacopters was something that really shaped me in my music today. Those guys are amazing and they’ve got that high energy, balls to the wall, foot in your face rock n’ roll.
CM: For me, I grew up obviously on the late ’90s, early 2000s pop punk. Third Eye Blind, Sum 41, those bands had a big impact on me. Then we started discovering bands like Thin Lizzy, Boston, Toto, all those very melodic type of bands. What really made me want to become a singer was Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, to be honest. I remember playing those songs and trying to reach that range as much as possible. I knew I wanted to be a travelling musician.
GC: For me, I’m a little bit on the heavier side, but when I was growing up, I always loved Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister and stuff like that, the real big theatrical stuff. As I got older, my dad got me into more thrash like Overkill, which is a nice element to bring into this band. That’s me.
SV: What got me originally into music in general is I used to steal my dad’s Aerosmith CDs. That’s all I knew at the moment, so I would just keep listening to those first 3 records by Aerosmith. That’s what first got me into music. What made me really want to be a guitar player was, again, I stole it from my dad, the first Enuff Z’Nuff record. I don’t know if you know them at all.
Those are my hometown boys. We love Uncle Chip!
SV: Derek Frigo, when I heard him play guitar, I was like, “Oh shit, that’s it!”
Wicked is currently promoting their latest album, Sunburn. What did the band set out to achieve with this release as opposed to past efforts?
DD: I think what our goal here is that we want to keep putting out this music. We live together, the 4 of us. We’ve been living together for 7 years like an old school band. What happens is you create all these memories together, so we’re always writing. We have so much to say and it’s hard to get it out quick enough because there’s so much work that goes into making a record, promoting it, and everything. With Sunburn, that was our break to say, “Let’s do what makes us happy. Let’s start putting out this music that really feels true to us.” This album in particular is a reflection on the decade of being together as a band and becoming musicians and being rockstars, living together.
What is the band’s songwriting process like? Who contributes which aspects of the song?
CM: It’s really fun man. It’s very natural for us. We just sit around. Someone grabs a guitar. Danny’s walking around writing lyrics and it all just comes together super quickly for us. It’s very natural.
DD: It’s funny because usually somebody’s like, “Oh shit! I got an idea! I got this word! I can see the whole thing coming together! Grab your guitar! Let’s go in the living room and hang out and write the song. Then we’ll go in the studio in the basement and record it.” *laughs*
When you’re writing, do you find yourself starting with a riff, a lyric idea, a melody? Which usually comes first?
DD: It’s always an idea. I guess you could say maybe a lyrical idea or something like that, but the song doesn’t really take shape ’til Scotty and Chad start playing their guitars and start coming up with some riff progression.
Sunburn was produced by Grammy winner Nacho Molino. What did he add to this album and did he impact its general direction?
CM: You know, it’s cool. Nacho came in…during COVID, the whole world was shut down, so he helped us build a studio in the basement of our house. We had him come live with us for 5 months. We had a lot of the songs pretty much ready to go. There was a few things pre-production wise that he altered and brought new life to a lot of music that’s been around for a while.
DD: That was the key. Not only is he super talented as an engineer doing the mixing of the album, but in that pre-production, he’s really like the fifth Beatle who’s challenging us. Like I said, we live together and write together all the time. Sometimes you need that fifth element to come in and say, “Yeah, think of it this way. Change it this way.”, because you just got that different perspective that adds a fresh taste to everything.
I know you mentioned it earlier, but when listening to this album, I can’t help but notice a strong power pop influence reminiscent of bands like KISS and Cheap Trick, which really gives the music a unique edge. Can you talk about these leanings and where they come from?
SV: That kind of goes with some of those, like Chad was saying, those ’90s pop punk things. Third Eye Blind is a huge influence on this band. Some of those earlier albums, the guitar work really influenced a lot of the riffs on this album.
DD: Even the ’70s stuff too, like The Kinks, all that kind of stuff like that. We have so much vinyl. We’re big record heads. We have a whole room that has vinyl on shelves everywhere. If we’re not writing, we’re normally spinning some vinyl and hanging out or have people over. That’s how we entertain ourselves and keep the atmosphere of the house. You always got bands like The Kinks on. Another band that we really love that’s a big power pop band is Bandit.
It’s one of those records that maybe a lot of people don’t even know who they are, but the melodies and that pop hook influence you’re talking about, we love to take that as you can see and blend it with that hard rock backend and really create something kind of different for 2024 music. We’re pretty proud of it and it makes us excited, so it’s cool to be out on the road and see people eating that up, even at a Raven show. These metalheads are like, “That was fucking awesome! Those hooks are huge!” It’s cool!
I’d be remiss not to ask about my favorite song on the album, “Nightmare”. How did that song come about?
DD: “Nightmare” was one that’s been floating around for a little bit. We revamped that one pretty good. It was all about this toxic relationship and how people kind of fuck with each others heads sometimes. At first you don’t mean it, but that toxic relationship really becomes that. So it became this aggressive, dark, sexual song. Gunnar and I had a really good time on the rhythms of that one, but then we added that whole breakdown section that was really mean. That was pretty cool.
CM: We really wanted to have a cool rhythm to the song where it grooves a little bit and then it hits you with the chorus hard.
There’s no denying that Wicked is an extremely visual act, with the band bearing a very distinct, old school glam look. How was this look cultivated and how important is it to you for the visuals to match the energy of the music?
CM: It really goes back to that late ’70s big theatrical kind of rock. Aerosmith, Alice Cooper obviously. You’re going to see a play basically. You’re getting what you’re paying for. You get a real show out of it. You get a whole performance with things going on. We want to bring that kind of energy to the crowd so that you have an experience when you come there. That’s where the big look comes from: the outfits, the hair.
DD: Hell, I even like looking across stage and seeing Scotty’s six pack over there. That thing freaking shines from a mile away *laughs*. But I’ll tell you what, if you haven’t seen the band live, the true star of this band is right here. Gunnar is a freaking beast on the drums. I have never seen something as entertaining as this guy as he just fucking smashes the drums back there. He is so cool to watch play.
I’m glad you mentioned that about the look. It may be a controversial thing in metal, this idea that there shouldn’t be a “fashion police”. In the same breath, if I went to see Judas Priest and they were wearing shorts and backwards baseball caps in stead of leather, I’d be like, “What’s going on here guys?”
DD: Yeah, what are we doing here?! *laughs*
You’re currently on a cross country tour with none other than NWOBHM legends Raven. What can the fans expect from this show and how does it feel to be touring with such an iconic band?
DD: Raven are a bunch of lunatics. Those guys really know how to keep their show from the minute they get onstage to the minute they get off, just punching you in the face. That’s what makes it such a good combo with us being out on tour with them. We bring that high energy rock n’ roll. We bring the energy, the jumping, the theatrics. It’s like bookends. You go to the show and you just cannot be let down with hard hitting rock, big hooks, good times. Everybody’s smiling. Everybody’s having a great time. Forget about your day to day. Come on out, grab a drink, and let’s rock the hell out.
CM: I’ll tell you what too. Our first show with Raven that we played 2 days ago, Mark (Gallagher) and I both spilled enough blood to fill a water bottle. You’re getting a good show brother!
You mentioned earlier opening for such a heavy act as Raven. I’ve come to know them over the years and I’ve interviewed John (Gallagher) a handful of times. There was one time I was interviewing him and he was mentioning the bands that he and Mark would go see in their youth. They would go see Sweet, Slade, and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. When you look at it from that angle, it makes sense a band like Wicked could open for Raven.
DD: It’s an awesome dynamic. I think it’s fun when you go to a show and you’ve got different levels of styles. It just makes the night more exciting and refreshing.
Let’s also not forget that Raven has a history of breaking opening acts. Remember that little band Metallica?
DD: Hellyeah dude!
What bands would Wicked like to play with in the future that they haven’t played with yet?
DD: We’re super excited because there are so many bands out there with such talent and you can see it on this tour. You’ve got Vicious Rumors. You’ve got Lutharo. We love meeting these different people, whether it be bands or fans in the crowd. One of my big spotlights that I really hope we get to go on the road with is Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts. Tuk used to be in The Biters. He’s one of those real hard working rock n’ rollers that’s been out there doing it old school, kind of like us. I have a lot of respect for him, so I really hope that someday we can join forces. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be out with The Hellacopters or Backyard Babies. We’ll have to see.
In closing, what does the rest of 2024 have in store for Wicked?
DD: Well, we’ve got a little surprise. We’ve got another album that’s 90% done, so as soon as we get off tour, we’re putting the finishing touches on it and you can expect more Wicked music, more live shows, and more touring coming very very soon.
The new Wicked album, Sunburn, is available now. Wicked will be playing Reggies Rock Club in Chicago, Illinois with Raven, Vicious Rumors, and Lutharo on Sunday, April 14. For more information on Wicked, visit www.wickedrocknrollofficial.com.